During the first day of the Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) High Level Expert Panel on “How to Feed the World in 2050” on Monday, the organization’s Director General Jacques Diouf said that in order to keep up with a population that is expected to increase from 6.7 billion currently to more than 9 billion […]
World Food Day will be celebrated on Friday, October 16 – the final event of World Food Week – recognizing the creation of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and its mission of “defeating hunger.” FPA’s Global Food Crisis blog will follow events held to commemorate World Food Week. Each year, World Food Day […]
That’s what the overwhelming verdict is because of new extraction methods for accessing natural gas from shale. I’ve written recently about the rising star of natural gas as a powerful tool in battling the climate crisis: see Natural Gas – to Cut GHG Emissions, Natural Gas in the Senate and The Gas Industry at the […]
There’s a review today in the “NY Times” of what looks like a fabulous book of photographs of how America generates, uses and lives with power. See also the slide show for a look at Mitch Epstein’s work. This book could be a perfect complement to a book from Ingrid Kelley, Energy in America, that […]
The big ticket for today is that President Barack Hussein Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. What’s that got to do with climate change? The press release from the Norwegian Nobel Committee says that, among his other accomplishments: “Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting […]
Think California and its Governator aren’t dead serious about renewables? DOE’s weekly newsletter, “EERE Network News,” has this story: California Accelerates its Pursuit of Clean Energy. A new executive order requires the Golden State’s utilities to get a third of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. This is in addition to robust energy efficiency […]
President Obama signed an executive order today that commits the federal government to massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The White House press release notes: “The Federal government occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates more than 600,000 vehicles, employs more than 1.8 million civilians, and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services. […]
In yet another useful special report at the “Financial Times” – this one today on the gas industry – there are two articles on the theme of what I was talking about recently in which natural gas is being positioned as a “transition” fuel to the low-carbon future. (See Natural Gas – to Cut GHG […]
In a front page story that appeared in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, reporter Michael Moss reports on the problems facing the beef industry and food stores in keeping beef products, particularly ground beef, free from harmful contamination, like E. Coli. The story of Stephanie Smith and the medical problems she has […]
The editor of Nature Reports Climate Change, Olive Heffernan, went to Lindau this summer to sit in on the 59th annual meeting of Nobel Laureates. She took three young scientists to hear the scientific panels and to talk with some of the Laureates, including Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, who received their prizes for discerning […]
According to the UN, there are more than 370 million indigenous people in some 70 countries worldwide. For centuries, indigenous people have endured bias and, in some cases, severe racism. Their lands were (and sometimes still are) considered empty and fair game for others to exploit. Up to sixty percent of the world’s most desirable […]
Oh, very much not incidentally, the EPA Administrator announced yesterday that they are proposing to require “…large industrial facilities that emit at least 25,000 tons of GHGs a year to obtain construction and operating permits covering these emissions. These permits must demonstrate the use of best available control technologies and energy efficiency measures to minimize […]
Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer introduced the Senate’s version of climate change and energy legislation today. See this for information on the background of the bill and the working draft itself. I won’t go into an analysis right now. (I’ll be getting on that soon, along with about 5,000 other commentators.) You’ll fershur be […]
I talked about Australian PM Kevin Rudd’s address at the Foreign Policy Association’s annual World Leadership Forum. Here is a video of this compelling speech. Rudd drew a highly convincing picture of how the world can and should reinvigorate multinational organizations.
Are the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers listening? It’s pretty plain at this late date that many, many leading companies in manufacturing, mining, finance, insurance and other industries recognize the threat of climate change to their businesses and the opportunities for growth with sustainability. The World Business Council for Sustainable […]